1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to systems and methods of providing synchronized information such as narratives, translations or other show related messages to individual patrons of rides, shows and exhibits.
2. General Background and State of the Art
There are several circumstances that may interfere with a person's ability to hear, and thereby interfere with a presentation of information to the listener. For example, persons with hearing loss may miss narratives, sound effects, music and other sound material related to the presentation, and messages in live performances, films, television and special events. Persons who do not speak the language or languages used in the presentation may miss narratives and other related messages that are presented. The language barrier prevents many people from different cultures and languages from understanding, participating or interacting with the information being presented. Background environmental noise may also affect a person's ability to hear, and thereby diminish the effect of the presentation. Persons with severely impaired vision also miss visual portions of these presentations.
Captioning systems have been used in venues including museums, theaters and other auditoriums to provide foreign language translation or captioning for the hearing impaired. The most common of these systems includes “open captioning” whereby text is displayed on a projection surface or large adjacent display area where the entire audience can see the captioning. Another common method of captioning is “reflective captioning” which uses a transparent but reflective panel to display the text from a rear projection while allowing the viewer to see the display or performance through the panel. Yet another method utilizes individual hard-wired displays located in the back of a seat in front of the viewer.
Multiple channel assistive listening systems have also been used in venues including theaters, churches and auditoriums to provide amplified narration and foreign language translation. These systems have the content broadcast by infrared, radio frequency or inductive loops to the devices carried by the patrons. In these cases, the content is continuously streamed with the content source being located in the facility; the receiver simply played back the audio as it was received. In those instances where more than one language is provided, the multiple transmission frequencies sometimes cause interference with each other (crosstalk). The available number of suitable frequencies also limits the number of channels. Radio frequency and inductive loop technologies can also cause interference with other electronic equipment within the venue. Personal audio devices have also been used in venues including museums to provide narration in multiple languages. These are typically manually activated systems where the patron is required to activate the system, either by pressing a button or manually entering a numeric code.
Each of these systems has its own limitations. For example, open captioning can be obtrusive and distracting to other patrons. These systems are generally not convenient to the user and are limited to one or a few languages.
Moving ride vehicles in a venue such as an amusement park present an additional set of problems in providing captioning due to such factors as variations in vehicle speed, and lack of communications wiring to moving vehicles.
Additionally, presentations often could be made more effective if they included a method to provide interactivity between the audience and the presenter(s).